Save the NHS!

What makes me laugh is that to increase funding to the NHS then taxes on the highest earners would have to be increased, ironically this would hit almost all doctors.

Considering the uproar by doctors over the reduction in the lifetime pension allowance (they achieve a £1,000,000 pension pot at age 55 on average) and the recent attempt to bring the wage bill under control with the new contract, I wonder if increasing NHS funding through further taxation would inadvertently kill it?
 
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I’m what the internet/OCUK defines as a “loony leftie”, but given the significant issues involving an ageing population, longer lifespans and chronic illnesses, which are ever so expensive to treat, mean that the current module is just not viable

Everyone who has the misfortune of contracting a life-threatening illness of course wants the best latest treatment. This is simply unworkable as we all overestimate how much we have contributed and underestimate how much medication actually costs.

As with pensions and elderly care politicians (from all parties) are simply too scared to tell the public the realities and instead stick their head in the ground.

We will need to eventually have to move to some form of compulsory health insurance system with free emergency care.
 
I don't think compulsory health insurance will cover it as there will always be those who 'can't' pay e.g. benefits recipients and so the burden will fall on an ever decreasing number of high earners to pay for the majority who are not net contributors to the public purse.

Corbyn see's the issue as being resolved via a maximum salary https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/10/jeremy-corbyn-calls-for-maximum-wage-law as he argues that this would enable an increase Government spending on healthcare and public services. But my thoughts are:

1) If the cap is £75,000, why would any company pay more than this as there would be no benefit to them or the employee? How would the amount of income tax received by HMRC be increased?

2) If the cap is £75,000, this would mean a massive pay cut for hospital consultants, senior police officers and head teachers. Would they still want the hard work and responsibility for half the pay?

I don't think there is any answer other than people's expectations of what services they can expect to receive from the state needs to be drastically reduced.
 
Liefrich said:
Everyone who has the misfortune of contracting a life-threatening illness of course wants the best latest treatment. This is simply unworkable as we all overestimate how much we have contributed and underestimate how much medication actually costs.
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An albeit small part of the problem is that people want the best treatment for non life-threatening illnesses as well.
 
platypus said:
An albeit small part of the problem is that people want the best treatment for non life-threatening illnesses as well.
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It depends how you define "the best". The problem with the way the NHS treats some conditions is they don't take into account how a treatment could improve the standard of living of a patient and reduce stress on staffing levels and resources of multiple NHS departments.

If they actually put a price on a referral from a GP/nurse to a specialist, that is an extra appointment needed. If the specialist cannot then prescribe a product because their CCG has put a limit on the hospital, they have to go back to the GP with a letter of recommendation for a product for the GP to prescribe. The GP doesn't want to prescribe the product because they personally do not know what the treatment does even though there is a letter asking for it... so they don't.

Wasted appointments are still NHS resources. If a typical treatment for a condition needs 6 GP appointments, 4 specialist appointments and a product cost of £200. Introduce a new product that costs £300 but the appointments drop to 3 GP and 2 specialist, most CCG's see that as a treatment cost increase of £100 even though you've reduced the need for appointments, so refuse to prescribe it.

Is the best treatment the one that is cheaper to prescribe, or the one that can reduce required appointments, increase the patient's standard of living but has a higher prescription cost? If you put the cost of each appointment at a £50 cost to the NHS, the "better" product is cheaper, but a CCG doesn't see it like that so they still recommend the cheaper to prescribe product.
 
The health service is to recruit hundreds of GPs from countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Greece with promises of £90,000 salaries and “generous relocation packages” in a bid to tackle a spiralling NHS crisis.

The new scheme run by NHS England will see doctors from across the EU undergoing 12 weeks training in Poland before they start work in Britain
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You cannot make this up :o
 
The health service is to recruit hundreds of GPs from countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Greece with promises of £90,000 salaries and “generous relocation packages” in a bid to tackle a spiralling NHS crisis.

The new scheme run by NHS England will see doctors from across the EU undergoing 12 weeks training in Poland before they start work in Britain
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Buddy said:
You cannot make this up :o
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If true then it's disgusting.
My doctor who runs my local surgery of 8 doctors is only on £65,000.
 
Buddy said:
You cannot make this up :o
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It ties in with something I was saying recently. We have a shortage yet there is no funding for UK citizens to retrain as gps and we apparently have to have international students to fund medicine courses.
However they can then chuck money at stupid policies like that.
 
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